Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out
by ShadoeKylie
Summary: All Kylie wants to do is have a good run - good thing Burt's around!
1. Default Chapter

The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
  
By Shadoe Masters  
  
This is Story 3 of "The Great Burt Baiting Saga." These stories center on the characters from Tremors: The Series, and feature Burt, Tyler, and all the gang from Perfection Valley. There are also original characters of my own creation - just so you're warned ahead of time. But please don't let that scare you off. I hope you enjoy them.  
  
While this story is a romance, the people involved are not the most cooperative people in the coupling department. The romantic elements take time to unfold.  
  
Feedback: Please let me know what you think of each story. I love feedback, both good and bad, and the more detailed the better.  
  
Disclaimer: "Tremors" is not owned by me or my affiliates, but by Stampede Entertainment, Universal Studios, and their affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended - just some good, clean (well, mostly) fun!  
  
E-mail: shadoemagic@aol.com  
  
Thanks to my beta reader: LadyNRA 


	2. Part 1

**The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
Part 1**

Perfection, Nevada, 6/11/2003 

Burt pulled the binoculars away from his eyes. "Fool!" he said, disgusted. "That girl will never learn." He picked up the radio next to him and barely restrained himself from shouting. "Come in Kylie. This is Burt. Over." She continued running across the desert sand without a break in her stride. "Kylie, respond. This is Burt." Nothing. "Damn fool girl," he muttered, starting up the Power Wagon. 

She gave no outward indication that she even heard the truck's approach as he roared up behind her. He shook his head. "Get herself killed," he pronounced. He swerved, hit the gas, and passed around an outcropping of rock, then came around in front of her and stopped, blocking her path. 

She'd had plenty of time to stop, he knew that. Even running full out as she was, she had time to slow, even detour around him. 

She didn't. 

At the last moment, she blinked, startled, and tried to slow, but ran almost full on into the truck. 

He winced. 

She crumpled and fell, laying on her back, gasping for air. 

Burt climbed out of the truck and squatted next to her, looking for injuries. "Are you all right?" he asked. 

Kylie took in three more great lungfuls of air. "I-- _gasp_ --I _was_," she replied. 

"Did you get injured when you ran into the truck?" he clarified. 

She lay gulping air a few more minutes before answering. "God Burt! Are you trying to kill me?" 

"Why should I?" he asked, having ascertained that there were probably no permanent injuries. "You were doing a fine job on your own." 

"I was just running, Burt." 

"You weren't even aware of your surroundings," he insisted. "You could have been killed." 

She propped herself up on her elbows. "I was aware," she protested. 

"You didn't even see my truck until you ran into it." 

She just rolled her eyes. "Gee, Burt, I wasn't really expecting a truck to leap into my path." 

"That's my point - you were not paying attention to your surroundings." 

"I was doing fine until your Power Wagon attacked me." 

"El Blanco could have had you--" 

"We're on rock, Burt. He doesn't come up here, remember?" 

"--or any of a dozen other predators," he continued. "You shouldn't even be out here on that leg." 

She crossed one shorts-clad leg up over the other and examined it. All evidence of her injuries a month ago was gone. "It's _fine_, Burt. You said yourself it was completely healed." She looked a little closer at her leg. "Though now I'll probably have a tire-shaped bruise, thanks to you." She looked up at him. "What were you thinking?" 

"You weren't even listening to your radio, Kylie," he pointed out. "Anything could have happened." He stood. "Are you _trying_ to get killed?" He held out a hand to help her up. 

She sighed, and took his offered hand. She busied herself dusting herself off for a moment, then looked up at him. "You're right," she admitted. "I must have zenned out." 

"'Zenned out'?" 

"You know, went into a Zen state..." She saw his blank stare. "Zen? State of enlightenment? Asian philosophy...? Okay, probably nothing you've ever heard of." 

He shook his head. 

"It's sort of a meditative state. It's great - the endorphins kick in, your focus narrows to the here and now, you sort of transcend your local environment. It's sort of a spiritual journey, like chanting a mantra..." 

He grimaced. "Sounds like one of Nancy's crazy ideas." 

She shook her head and bent double, her face against her legs with her ponytail brushing the dirt. She stayed that way, stretching. "It's not crazy, Burt," she said to her knees. "It's a proven fact. Runners in a Zen state can run faster and farther, using less energy--" She looked at him sideways. "I've got scientific journals..." 

He ignored her explanation. "It still doesn't mean you should do it in the desert. Things like that could get you killed here in Perfection. There are dangers out here. El Blanco--" 

"_You_ said he doesn't come up--" 

"--_mountain lions_, coyotes, even lizards can be dangerous out here if you're _Not. Paying. Attention_." 

She stood up, bent a leg up behind her and grabbed it, stretching. He didn't miss the slight roll of her eyes. 

He tried another tack. "You can't be thinking, running in this heat. Look at your shoulders. You're already starting to burn." 

"_Eep!_" She dropped her foot and twisted to examine her shoulders, noting the telltale redness developing. "I wore sunscreen!" 

"It's not going to work out here. Too much reflection off the sand. Long sleeves, long pants - that's the only thing that works." 

"Fine," she said. "I'll wear sweats tomorrow." 

"Tomorrow?" he asked, exasperated. "Haven't you heard anything I said?" 

She nodded, walking around the truck to the passenger side. "Long pants, long sleeves. Got it." 

He stood at the driver's side door as she got in. "There are other dangers out here in the desert besides sunburn!" 

"I know." She held up a small canister of mace. "I always run prepared." 

He put a hand over his eyes and shook his head. 

"You going to stand out there all day, Burt, or give me a ride back to my Rover before I look like a tomato?" 

He yanked open the door and got in. "Headstrong little girl!" 

She did her best to look innocent. 

~~~

The next day, Kylie ran her course again - this time in a long-sleeved t-shirt, light sweat pants and a stronger sunscreen. 

Somehow, it wasn't as exhilarating as it had been the day before. She concentrated, but couldn't get in the zone. The rhythm of her feet couldn't lure her. She started at a lizard first, her mind wondering if it was one of the poisonous ones. A rock loomed up out of the sand and she stumbled, taking a few steps to get her stride back. 

Ruthlessly, she turned her attention to the sound of her feet on the dirt. If she concentrated-- 

There was a flash off to the right. She slowed. What could be...? It had come from a rock outcropping with some straggling brush fighting for root space around it. There it went again, that flash-- 

She turned away with a smile, sped up, and continued her run, pretending she didn't see the distinctive shape of Burt's Power Wagon. 

She had no problem getting in the zone after that. Not with her knight watching over her. 

~~~

Burt walked through Chang's front door and busied himself stuffing his gloves into the pocket of his vest while he let his eyes adjust to the dim interior. Nancy and Jodi were standing at the counter so he strolled over to join them. 

"Coffee, Burt?" Jodi asked, already setting a cup on the counter before him. He nodded and waited for her to pour while his eyes followed Nancy's gaze. 

"Now what are they up to?" he asked. 

Tyler and Kylie were sitting in the corner by the window, looking down at some cards laid on the table. He was listening to her talk, as she pointed out the different cards. 

"She's giving him a tarot reading," Nancy said. 

"She already did us," Jodi added. 

"That makes you next," Nancy told Burt, an imp of a smile on her lips. 

Burt turned and glared at her. "I don't think so. I don't believe in all that new age mumbo-jumbo." 

"It's not new age, Burt. Tarot cards have been around for centuries. They can be very accurate in the hands of a skillful reader. And I think Kylie has real talent." 

"She supposed to be some kind of psychic?" Burt scoffed. 

"She says she's not," Nancy said, "But I think she's wrong. Her readings for me have been very accurate." 

Burt looked to Jodi and raised his eyebrows, inviting her to join in him his disbelief. 

Jodi shrugged. "So far, mine haven't been _wrong_. Though I'll admit not everything has come true yet. And she did give some good advice." 

Burt's eyes slid away, looking over at the pair in the corner again. They were both looking at him while Kylie gathered up her cards. She said something that made Tyler laugh and they both got up and joined the trio at the counter. 

"You're just in time, Burt!" Kylie said. "It's your turn for a reading." 

"I'm not getting involved in that nonsense," he said, focusing on his coffee. 

"Oh please, Burt, let me do a reading on you. I've been dying to get some cards on you." 

He turned suspicious eyes on her. "Why?" 

"Because you're the most interesting person in the Valley." She smiled when he didn't comment. "It could help you determine your future course and reveal hidden facets of your inner self, help you live your life more fully..." 

"Bunch of nonsense," he decided, resorting to his coffee again. 

"Come on, Burt! Let me do this for you. If you don't let me do a reading for you, I'll just have to think of something else to do to thank you for saving my life." 

He thumped a hand down on the counter. "You _don't_ have to thank me! I told you--" 

She held up a hand and closed her eyes. "We have had this conversation before, Burt. I may not be worth much in this world, but I pay my debts, one way or another." She looked at him. "So what'll it be? Cards or... something else?" She grinned. "I could have another go at dinner." 

He remembered the night she insisted he come to Nancy's for dinner so she could cook for him. The whole place had smelled like smoke and Nancy ended up making them french toast. If just making dinner could be that much of a disaster, he was afraid to think of what she'd come up with next. He looked around at the expectant faces watching him, and rolled his eyes. "All right, all right. Just... get it over with." 

She took his hand and walked him over to the table by the window. Her voice became deep and mysterious. "Come with me and let Madame Kylie tell you what lies in store..." Then she broke the spell by giggling as she sat down. "Doesn't really have the same effect without the costume." She started shuffling the cards as he sat opposite her, but stopped to regard Nancy, Jodi and Tyler, who'd followed them to the end of the counter. 

Burt just rolled his eyes. He didn't know if this would be worth the aggravation. 

"Excuse me?" Kylie said to their audience. "Is this a spectator event?" 

"We just wanted to watch," Nancy said. 

"There's no watching. A reading is a very personal thing, not for idle curiosity." She waved them away. "Now run along like good little children. That's right..." She gave them a mock glare until she judged them at a sufficient distance then smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Nosy people..." She went back to shuffling the cards while Burt watched her uncomfortably. 

"What do I have to do?" he said. 

"Pretty much sit there and listen," she told him. "It's not difficult." She patted his hand that rested on the table. "This won't hurt a bit. I promise." 

He drew his hand away and shifted in the seat. "I don't believe for one minute that you can read my mind." 

"I can't," she said, surprising him, while she shuffled the deck a few more times. "The cards are directed by cosmic forces we humans can't begin to understand." She ignored his snort of disbelief and continued. "They know what's in your heart. I have some talent in interpreting their patterns, but I can't read your mind." 

"I don't believe they can tell me the future, either." 

She smiled. "It helps if you think of the cards as a tool. They won't tell you what _will_ happen, only what _could_ happen, based on where you are now, and what you can do to bring about the outcome you desire. _You_ make the choice." 

"Bunch of superstitious mumbo-jumbo." 

Kylie nodded. "It can be. But it's also possible it's real." She looked into his eyes. "Tell you what, Burt, why don't you prove it's all 'mumbo-jumbo'?" 

"That won't be hard." 

"Uh-huh. So you think." She set down the cards and crossed her hands over them. "I believe in these cards. You don't. If you want to prove to me that they don't work, you're going to have to cooperate. Here's the deal: for the next fifteen minutes, you entertain the possibility that this reading is real. You work with me, really _try_ to make it come out. And if I'm still totally wrong, then you can tell me I'm a fraud. You prove it's all 'mumbo-jumbo'." She leaned closer to him. "But if you don't give it an honest effort, then you're sabotaging the experiment and you prove nothing. Fair enough?" 

He nodded. "All right." 

"Good." She scooped up the cards again. "Now, think of a question. You don't have to tell me what it is, but the reading will be more accurate if you do. Could be something serious or something inconsequential. Something, perhaps, you want some guidance on. Try to focus on one specific concern." She gave him a moment. "Have your question in mind?" He nodded. "Going to tell me?" He only raised his brows. She grinned. "How did I know?" 

She cut the cards one hand to the other, and said, "Give me your hand." 

"Which one?" 

"Whichever you like." 

He put his right hand into hers. 

She gave him the deck. "While thinking of your question, cut the deck - three piles instead of two." 

"Any particular way?" 

"Any way you like." 

"Why do I feel like this is some kind of test?" he grumbled, but he cut the cards then stacked them together again. 

She smiled mysteriously and slid the deck in front of her. After pulling the first card, she regarded it with raised brows. "Interesting." She laid the card in the center of the table. It was an man on a throne, holding a sword. "This card represents you," she said. "The warrior king." She looked up at him. "Still think the cards are 'mumbo-jumbo'? They seem to have you pegged." 

"Coincidence." 

She smiled but didn't reply as she turned another card and laid it across the first. Her brows rose again, but she said nothing, laying four more cards, encircling the first two, then four in a column to their left. She paused a moment, then laid out three more cards across the top of the rest. She studied the cards a few moments, her eyes darting this way and that to the pictures on the cards. 

"This is a very powerful reading, Burt," she said at last. "Very few minor pairings here." She looked up at him with a slight smile. "With you, that's to be expected." She looked back down to the cards. "Also, as expected, there is some major conflict shown here." She put her fingers on two cards, far apart in the pattern. "Part of you lives in the past, and a part of you yearns to shed the past and go forward." She looked up at him, but Burt had perfected his poker face long before she was born. She went back to the cards. "You're searching for something, something that's important to you, vitally important. You've been searching a long time - months, maybe years." She tapped one of the cards. "Do you see this man? This man is so fixated on the empty cups in front of him, he cannot see what is offered behind him. This tells me that whatever it is you're searching for, it's already in your life, but you're so fixated on other things that you've missed it." She tapped another card, again featuring cups, this one with a lone shrouded figure. "But it's this past you need to shed. It's holding you back. Until you let go of the past, you won't see what's offered." She tapped another card. This one had the words, _The Tower_ along the bottom. The tower depicted on the card was being struck by lightning, and had two people hurtling from it to the ground. "This one tells me there is a change coming in your life. Something drastic - it will change your beliefs in all you hold dear, most likely." She looked up at him again, speculative this time. "Be ready for this change. It can be a very good thing, if you let it. Or disastrous. That choice is up to you." She looked back at the cards, going back to the lonely figure with the cups. She tapped a card with a drawing of an overflowing cup. "This one will determine if it's good or bad. When the change comes, be prepared to let go of the past, and you will have what you wish. Cling to the past, and you will have nothing." She taped the card above it this time, a lone figure carrying a lantern - _The Hermit_. "Either way, that which you seek is coming. Be prepared." She studied the cards a moment more, then abruptly swept her arm across the table, gathering them into a pile. It wasn't until she'd carefully straightened the cards and shuffled them twice that she looked up at him again. "How'd I do?" 

"Didn't have a thing to do with my question," Burt told her. 

She nodded. "Sometimes the cards tell you what you need to know, rather than what you try to tell them you need to know." She shuffled the cards three more times and laid three on the table only to scoop them up and shuffle them back into the deck. Finally she shook her head and put the deck into a pouch at the edge of the table and packed them away in a box at her feet. 

"Something wrong?" Burt asked. 

She shook her head, fussing with the clasp on the box. "Powerful reading." Finally she looked up at him. "I know you think it's rubbish, but... Give it some thought." 

"Bunch of new age nonsense. I expected this from Nancy, but you..." 

She giggled. "Oh please, Burt. I can out-weird Nancy any day. I'm a Wiccan priestess. You can expect much worse new age nonsense than that from me. Wait until I get started on circles and moon gardening, and did you know Perfection Valley has some of the most powerful geodes I've found in the world? Why, the psychic energy they project--" 

"Don't start!" Burt said, shooting to his feet. 

She grinned up at him, her eyes twinkling, letting him know she was just baiting him again. 

"Is that all? Are we done?" 

"Yeah," she nodded, pushing the box into the corner with one foot and standing. 

"That the box I fixed?" he asked. 

She glanced down at the ornate case then back up to him with a smile. "Yes, it is. It doesn't quite work as an altar anymore, but the cards seem to like it very well." She put a hand on his arm to stop him as he tried to turn away in exasperation. "Thank you again for fixing it for me. It means a lot. You can't even tell it was broken unless you know exactly where to look." 

He waved off her gratitude by resettling his hat on his head and started back toward his coffee - probably cold. She stopped him again with a hand on his arm. He turned reluctantly, afraid she'd either start thanking him again or spouting more nonsense. 

"Hey Burt, why don't we just take one truck tomorrow morning?" 

He frowned at her. 

"No point in us both driving. Why don't you pick me up in the morning. About 8:30?" 

"How did you know I--" 

"Madame Kylie knows all..." She lifted an eyebrow at him then slid past and joined the others at the counter. 

He looked down at the box of cards in the corner, then shook his head and followed her. 


	3. Part 2

**The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
Part 2**

Burt pulled the truck to a stop in the same spot Kylie usually parked for her run. They both got out and he rummaged in the back of his truck while Kylie stood next to her open door and stretched. 

He turned to her with an olive drab combat harness. "Everything will attach to--" He looked down to where she was with her forhead against her knees. He put one hand on his hip and regarded her impatiently. "I've adjusted this as small as it will go," he said when she stood again. "It should fit." 

She took it and set it on the truck seat while he went back to digging in the back of the truck. 

"You'd better take this canteen," he said, handing it to her. 

Set set it atop the harness and went back to stretching. 

"And don't forget your radio." 

When he handed it to her, Kylie put it next to the canteen and looked up at him. 

He turned back with something else in his hand to meet Kylie's glaring face. 

"I am _not_ going for a twenty-mile hike and a camping trip, Burt. I don't need all this... _stuff_." 

"Just some reasonable precautions," he said. 

She nodded. "If I was going for a twenty-mile hike and a camping trip." She turned away and bent toward her knees. 

"Just take the--" 

"_No_," she said emphatically to her knees. 

He crossed his arms and glared as she straightened and started bending this way and that. "You are totally unprepared for--" 

She stopped stretching and smiled up at him. "I'm prepared for anything, Burt. I have you!" She turned and started to run. 

"You should at least take the radio!" he shouted after her. 

She turned and ran backward a few steps. "Catch me!" When he only stood with crossed arms, she waved and went back to her run. 

He watched, mezmerized at the sight of the rise and fall of her... He looked away guiltily, and stowed things away in the back of the truck. Then he shook his head. He was _supposed_ to be watching her, after all. Automatically, he checked for observers, then trained his eyes on her rapidly-receeding form, the slightest smile on his face. 

She reached the big boulder on the far side of her course. He figured the time, challenging his internal clock, trying to predict when she would reappear. "Right about... now." He frowned when she didn't appear as predicted and recalculated. She still didn't appear. He grew concerned. Maybe she fell. Maybe she was attacked. 

He started walking, then broke into a run. He had a bad feeling about this. 

As soon as he rounded the boulder himself, he saw a huge hole, probably eight feet or more across. Kylie's tracks lead right to it. He quickly scanned the area first, hoping to see Kylie with her impish grin, telling him she was enjoying his fear. But no, she wasn't there. That left only... 

He approached the hole cautiously, dropping first to his knees then to his belly as he neared, feeling the unstable nature of the dirt at the edges of the hole. 

Kylie was lying at the bottom, more than 30 feet down. 

"Kylie!" he shouted. 

"Ugh..." she replied, blinking dirt out of her eyes. She sat up and shook her head. 

"Are you all right?" 

She looked up at him. "Well... _no_. I just dropped down a rabbit hole like Alice in frickin' Wonderland. Of course I'm not all right." 

She must not be injured, he decided. "Did you break anything?" 

"Um..." She looked around, then scrambled to her feet amid the rubble. "Just the ground, I think. What the hell is going on?" 

He shook his head. "Didn't you see the hole?" 

"See it? Burt the damn thing wasn't _there_ until I fell into it." She put her hands on her hips. "I ran this way all week, no problem. Now there's this big cave thing." 

"Can you climb out?" 

She looked around the edges of the hole then turned to glare at him. "Are you stupid?" 

He rolled his eyes. "I'll get some rope." 

He brought a couple lines of rope from the Power Wagon and tied them together, then tossed one end down to Kylie. 

She looked at the end of the rope dangling a few feet above her head then back up to Burt. "And now what am I supposed to do?" 

He looked down into the hole. It was dark and he couldn't make out details. He could only see Kylie by the whiteness of her clothes and her blond hair. He pulled out his maglight from a pocket and panned it around the hole. "Can you get on that ledge over there?" 

There was a shelf of rock about four feet above her level, on the other side of the hole. It almost reached her chin. "Maybe..." she said, crossing to it. While she struggled to get atop the shelf, Burt went to the other side of the hole, and gingerly tested the ground. He flattened himself and threw the rope down to her again, weighting his end by laying on it. This time the rope reached her. Still she glared back up at him. 

"What am I supposed to do with this, Burt? I failed rope climbing in school." 

"Figures," he muttered. "Just tie it around yourself and I'll help pull you up," he called down. 

She picked up the rope, considered it a moment, then reluctantly looked up at Burt. "I'm not good with ropes. I could maybe... tie it in a bow..." 

"Let me guess. You don't know how to tie even a square knot." 

"Sorry." 

"Hang on," he said on a sigh. He hauled the rope up again, while muttering under his breath. 

"I'm from LA, Burt, we don't even use rope there. Knots are like... alien concepts." 

He nodded absently, trying not to listen to her excuses. Even Nancy could tie a knot. He quickly tied the end of the rope into a bowline and tossed it down to her. With the loop in it, the rope didn't quite reach her again. He let out a little more line, sacrificing the anchor on his end, and wrapped it a few times around his arm. "Get your shoulders through that," he instructed. 

By stretching up on her toes, she could just get through the loop. She looked up at him expectantly. "Now what?" 

"Now you're going to have to climb while I pull you." 

"Climb? Are you insane? I can't climb!" 

"Learn," he said ruthlessly. "Find something to hold on to and put your feet on and I'll keep the rope tight so you can't fall." 

"I don't think this is going to work, Burt," she called up. 

He was getting exasperated. "Then don't think about it, just _do_ it." 

"Sure, easy for you to say, you're not down--" She spun around and almost fell off the ledge. His grasp of the rope kept her from falling, but it also nearly pulled him down. "What was that?" 

"What was what?" he called down. 

"I heard a noise." Her eyes probed the darkness. "There it is again. There's something down here!" 

He panned the maglight around the darkness but saw nothing. "Just your imagination," he said. "Now climb up that rope!" 

She turned, trying to find handholds in the wall. Finally, she put her foot in a gap and grabbed a couple of protruding rocks. "You won't drop me?" she asked uncertainly. 

"As tempting as it's becoming..." he said. "No, I won't drop you." He made sure the rope was taut. "Now just start climbing." 

She climbed. Slowly, and she complained every inch, but she made about ten feet before she looked down. "Ohhh... Burt, I'm scared. This isn't going to work!" 

"Look up here!" he barked. Her head snapped around. "Just keep going. There's nothing you need to see back there." 

She got another handhold, but then turned around. Her eyes probed the darkenss. "I'm telling you, there's something down here, Burt." 

"Then you need to get up _here_, don't you?" Burt said relentlessly. 

She glared at him. But she found another foothold and gained another couple feet. 

He pulled the rope taut and turned to anchor a length of it under him. 

She screamed. 

His head snapped back to the hole. She'd gained another three feet. "What is it?" 

"Something touched me! Get me out of here!" 

He saw nothing moving. "I don't see anything." Wait. Was that a shadow...? "Climb faster," he advised, his eyes stiving to see. He pulled a little harder on the rope. 

She climbed, ignoring the scrapes she was surely getting on her hands and knees. 

When she screamed again, Burt saw it. 

It was big. Not as big as El Blanco, but shrieker-sized, at least. 

Kylie dropped a few feet, pulled loose and dragged. "Burt! Something's got me!" 

He held tightly to the rope, but it started sliding through his hands. He wrapped it around one arm and reached behind him for his Desert Eagle. "Flatten yourself against the wall!" he shouted, taking careful aim. 

He couldn't get a good look at whatever it was, but aimed at the darker bit of darkness just below her. When she was as out of the line of fire as she could get, clinging desperately to the one handhold she could, he fired. 

Something screamed and the darkness dropped away from Kylie. 

"Climb!" he shouted. 

She looked up at him, then down below her. "I can't." 

"Yes you can! Get up here now!" he shouted, his voice harsh and unyielding. He'd seen that patch of darkness moving. 

Automatically, afraid at the tone in Burt's voice, Kylie set to climbing again, this time faster than she had before. She only turned back once, at a rustling from below. But this time, instead of slowing her down, she scrambled up faster. 

She was no more than five feet from him when the darkness came up at her again. This time she ignored it in favor of reaching Burt. 

He trained the Desert Eagle behind her, getting to his knees so he could pull more on the rope. He was pulling more on her than she was climbing now, but it didn't seem to matter. Just then a ray of light fell across the darkness. Burt got a glimpse of something furred and multi-legged, like jellyfish with hair. He fired just as Kylie came out of the hole. 

She lunged at him and he caught her. They fell in a heap on the ground. Kylie was still trying to scramble farther from the hole, and almost dragging him with her. 

Finally she stopped, her arms wrapped tight around him and staring over his shoulder at the hole behind them, her eyes wide. "Did you get it?" 

He nodded. "I got it." He remembered to keep his voice calm and level, even though his heart was racing along, beat-for-beat with hers. 

That's when he realized she was pressed up against his chest, her face touching his, she was practically in his lap - like lovers if they hadn't both been covered with dirt and focussed on something besides each other. He tried to pull away. 

She wouldn't let go. 

"I thought you said El Blanco couldn't come up here," she said, her voice ragged. 

"He can't. That wasn't El Blanco." 

"It had one of its snake-things around my leg. It was pulling me in, just like that night--" 

"It wasn't El Blanco," Burt repeated emphatically. He heard the note of hysteria creeping into her voice. "I thought you said you couldn't climb," he said, trying to calm her down. 

"Heh..." She took a deep breath, finally breaking the lock she had around his shoulders. "I guess I can. What do you know?" 

He started to pull away from her, but she stopped him. "Burt..." 

"What?" 

"Can I have your gun?" 

He looked at the Desert Eagle, still in his hand, and thought of Kylie with a gun... "No." 


	4. Part 3

**The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
Part 3**

Burt took Tyler back to the hole that afternoon, trying to discover what the creature was. They found the body lying at the bottom of the hole, dead. 

"Got to be a mixmaster critter," Tyler said. 

Burt nodded, squatting next to it. "But I'll be damned if I can figure out what it might be made up of." 

It didn't seem like much of anything familiar. It looked like a jellyfish, a spider and a bear had been put in a blender on frappe. There were eyes, a cluster of them, at the top of what Burt was going to call the "head," and tentacles that sort of trailed out of the "back." The skin didn't completely cover the thing, and there were only patches of fur on on what skin there was. 

"Ugly though," Tyler observed. "Kylie get a good look at it?" 

"No, thank God," Burt said, standing. "I don't think I could have peeled her off if she knew what had her." 

Tyler laughed. "Think there are any more of them?" 

"Only one way to find out," Burt replied. He pulled the rifle he held from his shoulder, settled the headlamp more firmly on his head, and started into the cave. Tyler followed. 

They found two more of the creatures, both in worse shape than the one Burt had killed. 

"I don't think the one back there would have lived much longer," Burt said after examining the other two. "They don't look viable to me." 

"You think these caused that hole?" Tyler asked. 

Burt shook his head. "Couldn't have," he said, considering. "But I'd like to know what did." 

~~~

The next day, Kylie made it through her run - barely - under protest from Burt. And then only after he'd made her wait while he drove her course in the Power Wagon to make sure the ground was stable. 

For all her protests, Kylie was secretly glad he did, and made sure to stay strictly in the tracks the Power Wagon had made. Afterward, she leaned against the truck, panting, and intermittently gulping mouthfuls of water from the bottle she kept in her pack. 

"If you'd carried it," he said, "you could have taken water breaks along the way." He didn't like the angry flush that lit her cheeks. 

"Burt!" she said, for what seemed the thousandth time. "Don't you ever run? You're _supposed_ to get hot, and thirsty, and out of breath." She paused to gasp a few more times, and gulp down another mouthful. She was almost out of water. "It's part of the fun." She brought the bottle to her lips again. 

He took the bottle away from her. "You're going to make yourself sick if you keep that up." 

"Geez, Burt, lighten up or I'm not going to let you come with me next time." She reached down and pulled her shirt over her head. 

Burt turned quickly away. 

"It's okay, Burt," she said, sardonically. "I've got another shirt on under this one." 

He turned back around, cautiously. She had what looked like the top of a bathing suit underneath. Didn't look like much of a shirt to him. 

"Though it's nice to know I have a way to shut you up on occasion," she said with a grin. She took another long-sleeved shirt out of her pack and pulled it on. After draping her sweat-soaked shirt over the door, she slid her pack out of the way, then pulled herself up into the truck. "And now, I need a shower." She looked at him expectantly until he walked around to the other side of the truck and got in. 

After he'd started the Power Wagon and pulled out to the dirt road, he said, "I've got a web belt. You could use it to carry a canteen and the radio, at least." 

"Thanks Burt, but I'm not carrying fifty pounds of gear with me on a run. That would defeat the purpose of the thing." 

"Not even close to fifty pounds. I'm just suggesting a few basic precautions. Didn't yesterday teach you anything?" 

"We've had this conversation before. I didn't let LA beat me, and I'm not going to let this weird valley do it either." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you just arguing with me because you enjoy it or do you actually think you're getting somewhere?" 

"You need to be prepared in the desert. It is not a forgiving environment." 

"Yeah, I got that part. But you're prepared, I've got you, so therefore, I'm prepared." 

He glared at her and took a turn too fast, then started in again. "It wouldn't hurt to at least keep your radio." 

"You know, Nancy was right. You are the most stubborn man alive." 

He rolled his eyes. "Nancy doesn't listen to my very reasonable suggestions either." 

"Now that's just not fair," she protested. "I listen to you." She grinned and shot him a look. "I just don't always do as you tell me to. It's a longtime failing of mine." 

"You are the most stubborn, headstrong--" 

"Don't forget 'irritating'," she said, unconcerned. "I get that a lot too." 

"I'm sure you do." Burt's eyes narrowed and he pulled the truck to a stop. 

"What is it?" Kylie asked. She followed his gaze but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

"Something in the brush," Burt said, his voice speculative. "A jackrabbit, maybe..." 

"But..." she prompted. 

He shook his head. "It was moving all wrong." He stared intently at spot where he'd last seen the animal, as if that would make it reappear. 

"And you want to chase it down and see what makes it tick, right?" 

"Affirmative. I'll get you back to Nancy's and come back." He started the truck moving again. 

"Negative," Kylie said, her mimicry prompting a glare from Burt. "In spite of my heavy schedule of hanging out at Chang's and watching _Burt Gummer Monster Hunter_ videos--" she gave Burt a grin "--I think I can squeeze in a bunny hunt." 

Burt looked torn even while swinging the truck in a wide arc back to the area he'd last seen the animal. "It could be dangerous..." 

"In this Valley, breathing is dangerous. As you are so fond of reminding me at every opportunity." She paused while he shot her a look, then gave him her "gotcha" smile. "Just _go_, Burt." 

They drove for miles of twisting, bumpy, off-road trail, over rock and scrub alike. Burt got out several times, inspecting tracks and trying to teach Kylie the difference between rabbit and a lizard tracks. They followed trails and fleeting glimpses of fur-covered tails. 

At last, Burt left the Power Wagon behind and followed the creature on foot, urging Kylie to silence. They stopped at a large boulder and peered over the top. 

Or rather, Burt peered over the top - Kylie stood impatiently behind him, waiting for him to report what he saw. 

He didn't. 

She fidgeted, wondering what was going on. He seemed intrigued, and Kylie was curious about what. 

She took a cautious step to the side, then another. She could almost see around the boulder. One more step... 

She saw a flash of fur and feet as whatever it was disappeared into a hole. 

She stepped back and looked up at Burt. He was glaring at her. 

"Sorry," she mumbled. 

He ignored her and walked around the rock. 

She followed. Quietly. 

The area was covered in what Kylie had come to recognize as rabbit tracks. Burt squatted down near the hole the rabbit had disappeared into, examining the opening. 

Kylie tried not to disturb anything Burt might think of as "evidence." 

Finally, he turned to her. She tried not to look guilty. "It's not too deep. It'll hide there until it thinks any predators in the area are gone, and then it should come out." He walked toward the boulder they'd been hiding behind and grabbed her arm as he passed, pulling her along. "If we hide - quietly - it will think we're gone." He took one last look at the area as it disappeared and settled them both in to wait. 

Periodically, Burt would peer over the boulder. 

Kylie went back to fidgeting. 

She opened her mouth to speak once, but Burt glared her to silence. 

The desert had a wild beauty all its own, Kylie had discovered in the past month while living in the Valley. She hadn't explored much, just the hiking trails and Chang's mostly, but she found something savage, untamed and untamable about it. The desert didn't have the spectacular views of the mountains she'd grown up in, but the browns and grays and occasional green of the desert had seemed so vivid and somehow alive, just the same. Even the occasional terrifying monster made her feel somehow full of life. 

Until today. 

It felt like they waited for hours, though her watch told her it was no longer than twenty minutes, and she found herself wanting to scream from the inactivity. She had this wild urge to leap up and down and run screaming off into the desert, sure Burt would follow her and probably strangle her. That vivid image almost brought a giggle forth, but Burt glared her to silence. She looked down at her running shoes and tried to stifle her mirth. 

And had to stifle a gasp. 

Something rolled down the slope to their rock and landed against her left foot. It was small, and round, and covered in brownish gray fur. She glanced once at Burt, but he was absorbed in looking over the rock and paying her no attention. Slowly, to avoid alerting him to her movement, she bent her knees and lowered herself enough to pick up the little ball. 

It was covered with incredibly soft fur, but the ball was made of some hard material. It didn't weigh very much. She tossed it up in the air and caught it a few times, almost surprised it didn't float away. It had an extra tuft of fur on one side, and a pair of little tabs of some sort sticking out the other end. She pulled on one of the tabs and let out one of those girlish little yips when the ball moved. 

She threw it away from her, but it rolled back down the slope and over the toes of her shoes. She backed edgily away until she crowded up against Burt's legs. 

He was already glaring down at her after the noise she'd made, and that made him no happier. 

She shot to her feet, trying her best to get behind him by the most direct route possible: straight through his hunting vest. "It moved!" she hissed. 

He grabbed her shoulders and held her at bay. "_What_ moved?" he hissed back. 

Kylie pointed down at the furball at her feet, which had now been joined by another. 

Burt set her to the side and she promptly took up a station behind him as he squatted to examine the balls. 

He poked carefully at it with a stick he picked up, ready to jump away if it showed signs of hostile aggression. It didn't, just rocked this way and that. "Why did you pick it up?" Burt asked her irritably. 

"It was cute," she said defensively. 

"And probably dangerous," Burt groused. 

She shrugged weakly. 

"Fur seems a lot like the jackrabbits around here. Too hard to be a jackrabbit hide..." He flipped it over, noting the tuft of fur and tabs sticking out. "I wonder..." 

He stood and went around the rock a bit, watching the hole. 

Kylie followed him, but didn't see anything interesting about the hole he'd been so concerned about. She kept one eye on the furball. 

When she looked back at Burt's hole, the rabbit had come out. He was right, it looked like a rabbit, but... not, somehow. It started scrabbling at the dirt around the hole. When it stopped digging, it stuck its long tongue in and snagged a bug, then promptly swallowed it. 

"Eeeew," Kylie whispered. 

Burt glared her to silence. 

He quietly circled around, motioning Kylie to stay where she was when she made to follow him. 

The rabbit looked nervously around, seeming to sniff the air, first one side, then the other, but made no move to run into the hole. 

Slowly, Burt bent to pick up a good size rock, then tossed it into the burrow entrance. 

Startled, the rabbit turned to dash into the hole, found it blocked, then promptly curled itself into a ball. 

"I suspected as much," Burt muttered, and went to poke and prod at the ball. 

Kylie stood over him. "What is it?" 

"Jackrabbit," Burt said. "Maybe." 

"I didn't know rabbits could do that." 

"They can't." He picked up the ball and stood, then took it over and set it near the other two. 

Kylie followed, arriving as the two smaller balls unrolled and started digging at the ground. She got a few feet closer and they rolled into balls again. 

"I think they're cute," she said, squatting down beside them. She picked one up and rubbed it against her face. "And they feel nice." 

"And they probably have strong teeth, so you won't want them that close to your face," Burt pointed out. 

Kylie held it away from her and turned it this way and that. "They're hard," she noted. 

Burt looked up at her. 

She knocked on the side of the fluffy round ball she held. "See?" 

"Will you put that thing down!" he grumbled. "It could be dangerous!" 

"It's cute," she said defensively. 

He tapped his knife hilt against the one he was holding. "Like it's got some kind of shell under the fur." His large hands felt carefully around the ball, looking for an opening. "It is a shell," he pronounced at last. "Three pieces." He tried to pry them apart and couldn't. "Strong..." he commented. 

She looked up at him. "Mixmaster?" 

He nodded slowly. "Other than the fur and ears, it's not like a jackrabbit at all. Not the shape or the size. And the tongue is all wrong." He reviewed the little he'd seen of the creature near the burrow before it rolled into a ball. "I think the forefeet were different, but the rear were jackrabbit. "Probably armadillo and jackrabbit, at least." 

Kylie reviewed the information she'd learned about the Valley. "Do you even _have_ armadillos around here?" 

He shook his head. "Might be something they had in the lab. The shell on an armadillo could have military applications..." 

"Oh look, there's more," Kylie said, and gathered up two more of the little balls. She looked at hers and the one Burt held. "No fair, mine are smaller than yours." 

He rolled his eyes toward her but said nothing, only taking one of the balls from her. He scanned the area, stepped behind her, and picked up another. This one was the same size as Burt's. He handed it to her. 

She smiled. "I saw them first - can I name them?" she asked eagerly. 

"No," Burt said, afraid of what she'd come up with. 

Kylie yipped and dropped the balls she had. "It moved again," she said sheepishly at a glance from Burt. 

She watched them, from a distance this time, while Burt poked and prodded at the large one he held. "It's a rabbi-dillo," She decided. "No, that sounds like something you'd find in a sex store." 

He looked at her, brows raised. 

"I hear," she added. 

First one, then another of the balls unfurled while they watched, then gathered around Kylie's large one. "Babies!" Kylie exclaimed. 

Burt nodded, irritated. "Most likely." 

"How about... Oh! Bunny-ball!" She smiled up at Burt. "I like it. It's a bunny-ball." 

Burt set his large one down a few paces away and backed toward Kylie. Another had unfurled and all three were swarming Kylie's larger one, who eventually also unfurled. They all dug at the ground, eventually sticking out long tongues to scoop up insects. 

"Can I keep one?" Kylie asked. 

"Certainly not. It's a wild animal, and we don't know what else it might be mixed with." He picked up one of the smaller ones, which promptly curled into a ball. "Still," he said, "we might want to take one back for Twitchell..." 

"Not that one," Kylie insisted. "Not one of the babies." 

Burt rolled his eyes, but put the ball down and reached for the large one. 

"_Not the mommy!_" Kylie exclaimed. "The babies will die." 

"They'll probably die anyway," Burt said. "They're not adapted to desert life." But he turned to chase down the large one he'd had, which by now had scrabbled some distance away. 

Kylie smiled at his efforts to catch it, though she was careful to make sure he didn't see her. 

He finally caught the animal by throwing rocks at it until it curled into a ball. After retrieving it and returning to where Kylie sat watching the little family, Burt thrust the ball at her and let her carry it back to the truck. 


	5. Part 4

**The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
Part 4**

"You know, it's not really all that cute close up," Kylie said, watching the bunny ball through the bars of the cage Burt had rigged up for it. "Kind of a pointy little face and beady little eyes." It yawned. "And pointy little teeth. Maybe it's part bat." 

Burt glanced over at it. "The face is shaped like an armadillo. Now will you put the cage down?" 

Kylie put the cage on the floor beneath her and propped her feet on it. 

Burt turned the truck off the marked trail to a barely discernable track. 

"Where are we going?" Kylie asked. 

"Shortcut," Burt replied. 

"Nicer scenery this way," Kylie noted with a happy smile, after they'd rounded a hillock and dropped into a canyon. They drove next to some striated cliffs until the canyon widened, then dropped again until there were cliffs all around. Here and there a ridge stood, testament that the canyon had once been flat ground. At the center of the deepest part of the canyon was a thin ridge slanting upward from the canyon floor, climbing skyward, almost to the level of the clifftops above. 

"Wow! Check that out! I bet the view is spectacular from up there!" she exclaimed. "Too bad we can't get up there to see." 

Burt glanced at her. "My Power Wagon was capable of any kind of terrain. It's been up there many times." 

"Is the view impressive?" Kylie asked. 

He nodded. "You can see almost the whole canyon from there." 

"Can we go, Burt?" she begged eagerly. "Please?" 

He put on a show of reluctance, but turned toward the ridge anyway. 

The ground fell away a couple yards on either side of the Power Wagon as Burt carefully navigated the thin, curving trail toward the top. A few dozen yards from the top, the trail widened a bit but grew too rocky for the truck. Burt pulled to a stop and turned off the engine. "From here, we walk," he announced, getting out. 

He climbed easily out of the Power Wagon and watched Kylie leap agilely to the ground. She wasted no time climbing up the trail as it thinned even more, but Burt stopped her when the trail grew rocky. "These rocks are loose and slippery. Watch your step." 

She fell back, allowing him to take the lead. He stepped over and around rocks as if he'd gone that route before, not gracefully, but adeptly, pausing a few times to reach back and take her hand, helping her over the worst of them. Once over the rocks, they were on a platform high above the floor of the canyon. 

She loved it up here already. Looking over the shades of the desert, she thought she could live here. Right here. Build a house, put in a pool... Maybe learn to knit. "It's breathtaking," she said at last. 

Burt glanced her way and nodded silently. 

She turned to him, sure he couldn't appreciate the savage beauty of the vista. He was standing, hands in pockets, relaxed now that he was out in his own environment. Away from people, and civilization and all the incivilities that went with it. He just seemed to... breathe better out here. She sensed a calmness in him she hadn't sensed before. She thought she understood. The Valley seemed to affect her the same way. She cocked her head, pondering that. He was such a complicated man. 

"So..." Kylie began, turning her eyes to the horizon. "Did you find it?" 

He looked at her. "Find what?" 

She turned back to him. "Whatever you were looking for." 

After a moment's puzzled frown, he turned away. "Bunch of nonsense." 

She noticed, though, that he didn't deny he'd been searching for something. "Perhaps you--" 

Their sizemos went off then, cutting off that thought. Kylie stepped away from the edge, nervously looking around. 

"It's all right," Burt said. "El Blanco can't get up here. We're on solid rock." 

"Good," Kylie said, but she still scanned the ground for signs of the giant worm. 

"There," Burt said, pointing at the telltale signs of El Blanco's approach. 

The ground began rumbling then, as El Blanco made for their outcropping. The trail came straight to the base of the rock, then disappeared underneath. 

As one, Burt and Kylie's heads turned to the other side, looking for the continuation of the graboid's path. Sure enough, in a moment, the trail resurfaced and headed off into the distance. 

Their sizemos stopped buzzing, but the rumbling in the ground continued. 

Kylie looked to him nervously. "Ah, Burt... Shouldn't this stop now?" 

He nodded, hands coming out of his pockets, going into a balancing act now that the ground was shaking more violently. He half-reached for her hand, backing away from the edge, then turned. "Get to the truck. Now." He instructed, and suited action to words. 

She started after him, but he threw an arm out suddenly, stopping her. While she watched over his arm, the ground between them and the truck gave a lurch and started to break apart. 

Burt backed them away, watching the ground beneath them, looking this way and that, while Kylie clutched at his protective arm. 

When the shaking stopped, they found themselves separated from the Power Wagon by an even thinner ridge of rock. "You all right?" Burt asked over his shoulder. 

Slowly she loosened the death grip she had on his arm and took a deep breath. "I think so," she said, expecting the ground to start shaking again. 

"We'd better get to the truck," Burt said, unnecessarily. They started for it, but the ground gave one last rumble. 

Suddenly the rock beneath Burt's feet grew soft and crumbled. He started sliding with with it as it fell. 

With a shrieked "No!" Kylie grabbed his arm again and pulled, landing on her back, with Burt thrown across her legs. He dangled over the very unsteady edge and was losing ground. He held her arm with one hand while clawing the ground with the other, scrambling for purchase. She dug in her heels and heaved, muscles working, and helped pull him slowly up over the edge. 

First one leg then another swung up and he rolled, Kylie still dragging at him. 

They rolled together, away from the edge, then came to a stop clutching each other desperately. When the ground stopped rumbling, their eyes met, waiting for the ground beneath them to turn to dust again. 

"I think we're safe, for now," Burt announced at last and tried to pull away. 

Kylie released the hold she had on his shoulders. Reluctantly. 

He stood and carefully explored the extent of the rock island they stood on. Only a few yards in any direction. The ground fell away to crumbled and jagged rock on all sides. The ridge between them and the Power Wagon was now a thin uncertain bridge. 

"I don't understand this," Burt said, pacing. "This ridge was stable. I've been up here dozens of times." 

Kylie just sat on the ground, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, slightly rocking. "I think I did that reading wrong, Burt," she said ever so softly. He strained to hear her. "The Tower usually means change. Always. Usually. Most of the time. All the readings I've done, it does, but-- But I guess that doesn't mean it can't be taken literally. I mean, here we are, two people - two people on the card. They fell to a horrible gruesome death, and here we are, falling to a horrible and gruesome-- Any second now, this whole place could go. I should have seen it. If I'd been thinking, I would have, but-- And now we're both going to die, and it's all my--" 

"We are not going to die!" Burt crossed to her and squatted in front of her, grasping her shoulders and giving her a little shake. He held her eyes with his own until he saw reason reassert itself in hers. "We still have options. The ground has stabilized and we're safe. We'll just call for help and wait." 

She nodded, attempting a smile. "Good girl." He gave her shoulders a rough pat and let her go then reached for his radio. 

It wasn't there. 

He stood, scanning the area, but it was nowhere in sight. He went to the edge he'd nearly followed down and looked over. 

He found his radio. 

It was about thirty feet below, wedged between two good-sized rocks. He thought he saw the circuit board a few yards away. There was no sign of the antenna. 

He looked over his shoulder at Kylie, careful to school his expression to something reassuring. 

She was still sitting with her arms around her knees, but she wasn't rocking anymore. That was a good sign. 

"I lost my radio," he said. "Let me use yours." 

She pointed to the truck. "I thought, since you had one..." 

"Didn't I tell you--" He shook his head. "All right, well... That makes things a little more difficult." He went to the edge again, and looked down. It was a sheer cliff with sharp rocks at the bottom. He followed the edge around but the story was pretty much the same. Their only hope was the remnants of the ridge, a thin rock bridge stretching from their rock island to the larger one with his Power Wagon. 

He examined it first from one side, then the next. _If_ it was stable, and solid, it _might_ support his weight. Briefly. 

He returned to the edge. Maybe there was something he'd missed. They might be able to climb down. There could be handholds... 

Kylie watched Burt's circuit of the pillar. He'd get them out of this. He would. He was Burt. Her white knight. He _had_ to get them out of this. He walked a few steps, looked over the edge, then walked a few steps more. She wanted to tell him to watch his step, get away from the edge. Just watching him so close, peering over, made her hands sweat and her feet tingle. He was going to fall. 

She concentrated on watching Burt instead of his distance from the ege. He had a very mannish stride - more lurching and efficient than the lithe and polished style of the guys in LA. Definitely not the most graceful man she knew. Had to be those big feet, or maybe the combat boots. 

She hoped he didn't trip over one of them and go sailing over the edge. 

She turned her mind away from that line of thought. 

"I'll just have to go to the truck," he said, back at the bridge at last. "I think it will hold my weight." 

Kylie blinked at him, coming to her knees. She looked at the thin bridge and back at him. "It'll fall." 

He shook his head. "Negative. It's sturdy enough. It'll hold long enough for me to get across. I'll radio for help and we'll come get you. No problem." He turned away from her, studying the bridge, first from one side, then the other. 

She crawled a couple feet closer to the bridge, studying it as well. 

It was so narrow. Maybe a foot or so wide in places, and not nearly thick enough to hold even Burt's lanky weight. It got wider close to the truck, but so very thin on their side. 

He came and squatted next to her. "I want you to wait right here. I may have to drive for help, but you stay here. Just wait, and we'll figure out a way to get you down." He studied her face. "Understand?" 

She nodded her head, twice, quickly, too afraid to speak. 

He smiled that reassuring smile he used when she was being a coward. "Good girl," he said, and patted her roughly again. 

He stood and turned, taking a deep breath. 

He didn't think he'd make it either. 

It wouldn't hold him, she knew it. Her mind conjured visions of Burt's broken and bleeding body laying at the base of the cliff. She shook them away. He'd make it. He had to. Burt would never _fail_ at anything. 

But he was so big and that bridge was so very thin. And too narrow in places. Could his feet even fit on that? He couldn't balance all that way. He's not graceful, he's not... 

He stopped at the bridge and turned to her, his look saying something she couldn't decipher, then turned, put one foot on the bridge. 

She called out, softly, trying not to startle him. "Burt... Wait." 

She couldn't believe she was doing this. 

He stopped, turned. Impatient and irritated. Not terrified, like she was. 

"You can't," she said. "You'll fall." She got to her feet and took a step toward him, then another. 

"It's got to be done," he explained softly. "It's the only way off this rock." 

She nodded. "Yes, yes... Just..." She swallowed. "Just not by you." 

He put his hands on his hips and gave her That Look. "Who would you suggest, out of the many options available to us?" 

She swallowed again. It was harder this time. "That would be me. I'll have to do it." 

"Absolutely not." He turned to start again. 

"No!" She ran to him and caught his arm. "No, Burt, you'll fall!" 

He set her back by grabbing her shoulders, picking her up and putting her where he wanted her. "Kylie, this is the only way." 

"Burt, you're about as graceful as a pregnant rhinoceros! And you're too big! It _has_ to be me." 

"No. You're just a girl." 

"Burt, you male chauvinist! It has to be me, and you know it!" Now she was getting stubborn. 

"Kylie, you can't even drive my truck." 

"But I can get across that bridge." 

"It might crumble under you as easily as it would me." 

She found herself doing that Burt nod/headshake combination he used when he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to disagree or agree with. "That may be," she said. "But you outweigh me by a hundred pounds. I've got the better chance." Her voice was starting to shake with emotion. He had to let her go before she lost her nerve. "You know I do." 

"No." 

"Then find another way - you're not getting on that bridge!" There go the tears, she thought. He let go of her shoulders and turned away. She hated it when he did that, like he was ashamed for her. Well, let him think she was a weak-spirited little girl. She couldn't let him die on that bridge. 

Burt paced away to the opposite side of the rock they were on and peered over the edge. He hated it when women cried. It made him willing to do whatever they asked if they would only just _stop_. Didn't help that the last thing he _wanted_ to do was try to cross that bridge. But he couldn't let her do it. She was only a little girl. She'd never make it. He thought of her body broken on the rocks below and shook his head. He couldn't let her do it. 

He looked over another side, hoping to find inspiration. There _had_ to be a way, if only he could-- 

Something alerted him. He spun. 

Kylie was on the bridge. 

"Kylie, _no_!" He sped toward the bridge. "Come back!" 

She stopped her slow progress, but didn't turn. "Don't," was all she said. Quietly. 

He stopped, cautious. Their combined weight was sure to take out the bridge. 

She took another step. "I took gymnastics in high school, Burt. I can do this." Another step. Did she wobble that time? 

"Did you pass?" Quiet, calm, he told himself. Too late to stop the headstrong girl. Had to keep her focused on what she needed to do now. 

One more careful step. "I got a C+." 

He could hear the tremble in her voice. She was scared. "That good?" A C+ was hardly enough to risk your life with. 

He heard a rumble and she froze. Was that the bridge? 

"Keep moving, Kylie," he advised, voice low and steady. 

She took another sliding step, and then another. 

"Don't look down." 

"Why do they always say, 'Don't look down'?" she complained. "If I don't look down, how do I know I'm not walking off the edge?" 

He put his head in his hands. "Just keep moving." 

He heard another rumble and looked up. Dust was falling from the bridge. He felt his heart thudding faster with every breath. "Hurry," he said. Her steps came faster, but still not fast enough. She was just over halfway but if the bridge started to go, she'd never make it. "Go faster." 

"Workin' on it, Burt," she ground out. "It's a little scary out here." 

"If you weren't such a headstrong little girl, you wouldn't be out there." 

"If I wasn't such a 'headstrong little girl,' I'd be standing where you are, looking down at your dead body right about now. And wondering what the hell I was going to do next." 

Just a few more yards. She could make it. "Worry about what you're doing, will you?" 

"You started it." 

They both heard an ominous rumbling. 

She stopped, looked back at him. "Burt..." 

He looked at her. "Kylie..." That rumbling again. Louder this time. "Run!" 

She ran. 

The bridge crumbled. 

It started falling closest to his side. "_Run_!" he shouted again. Louder this time, as if that would help. 

The bridge was disappearing under her feet. She jumped. 

She landed at the point where the bridge met solid land. She tucked and rolled, taking her a couple more yards away from the crumbling edge. 

Burt sank to his knees, watching her lay there staring at the sky. He was shaking. 

"Kylie!" he gasped out at last. She was probably having one of her panic attacks again. He could hear her crying softly. She was on her own this time - he couldn't help her from here. "_Kylie!_" 

She took a few more gasping breaths, and broke into full-throated... laughter? 

_She was laughing!_

"Whoo-_hoo_!" She jumped to her feet with a shout. "Burt! Didja see that! Ha! Take _that_ Sister Mary Katrina!" She jumped, fist in the air, then staggered, bent over with laughter. 

He stood, frowning. "Celebrate later," he called, pulling something from his belt. "You forgot the keys!" 


	6. Part 5

**The Desert's Going To Get You If You Don't Watch Out  
Part 5**

Kylie ran for the truck, swarming over the rocks she'd had such a hard time with earlier. She had to hurry. She just knew if she took too long, the whole tower Burt was on would fall to the ground, burying him in tons of rubble. 

She climbed into the truck and grabbed the radio. "Tyler! Tyler come in! It's Kylie!" She waited, impatiently. "_Tyler!_ Come in Tyler!" 

"You got Tyler. What's up Kylie?" 

_Thank you Goddess!_

"Burt's stuck on a rock, you have to come out and get us." 

There was a lengthy pause. 

"'Burt's stuck on a rock,' you say?" 

"All the ground fell off, and there was a bridge, and it fell and--" She shook her head. "_You just need to get out here now!_" 

"Is he hurt?" 

"No, not _yet_, but if you keep playing twenty questions he might be." She took a deep breath. "I'll explain everything when you get here. _Just hurry_." 

"Okay. But-- Where are you?" 

She keyed the mic but paused. Then stood up on the seat and waved an arm. "Burt! Where are we?" She could fell his eyes roll at her even from this distance. 

"Tell him Dead Man's Canyon," he shouted. 

"Dead Man-- Oh!" She glared up at Burt. "Dead Man's Canyon," she repeated into the mic. 

"I'll come right now," Tyler said. 

"Hang on," she said into the mic. "He's talking again." 

"What?" She shouted back. 

"Tell him," Burt shouted very slowly and carefully, "to bring the harpoon!" 

"He said to bring--" She stopped. "Bring the _what_?" she shouted back. 

"The _harpoon_!" 

Had to be some kind of code the guys used to confuse the girls. Men and their stupid little games. "He said to bring 'the harpoon', if that makes any sense." 

"Oh yeah. That makes sense," Tyler said. "I'm on my way." 

"He's on his way!" Kylie shouted, then settled down to wait. 

She noticed that the bunnyball had gotten loose and left Burt some presents on his seat. "He's going to love that," she murmurred, flicking them off the seat with a fingernail. "If he ever gets off that rock." 

~~~

Kylie saw the dust tail that broadcast Tyler's approach long before he arrived. She grabbed Burt's binoculars and felt a jolt of surprise when she recognized the apparatus in the back. "Frell me blind," she muttered. "It _is_ a harpoon." 

Tyler stopped his jeep at the base of the cliff she was on, unable to come closer to the pillar for all the rubble. 

"I can't mount it in this!" he shouted. 

Burt shook his head. "You'll have to get the Power Wagon," Burt shouted back. "Bring it down there!" 

"Can't Kylie drive it down?" Tyler shouted. 

"Negative!" Burt bellowed, while Kylie shouted, "No!" 

Kylie and Burt suffered through yet another interminable wait while Tyler hiked the winding trail to the Power Wagon. 

"How in the hell did he get this up here?" Tyler asked when he finally arrived. "And _why_?" 

Kylie shrugged. "The trail seemed wider on the way up. And..." She looked around at what was left of their parking area. "There was room to turn around when we got up here." She looked at him, a worried frown between her brows. "You _can_ get it down, can't you?" 

Tyler nodded. "Won't be fast, though." He got into the driver's seat and turned to her. "Got the keys?" 

~~~

The Power Wagon was finally in place, thanks to Tyler's not always legal knowledge of a vehicle's inner workings - or how to hotwire a truck. Kylie helped Tyler get the harpoon in place in the back of Burt's truck, proving that while small, she was not necessarily weak. With many shouted instructions from above, they even got it secured, mostly. 

"Need some rope," Tyler said, digging around in the back of the truck. "Burt has everything else." 

"There's some in the back of the cab," Kylie said. "I'll get it." 

"No," Tyler said, jumping off the side of the truck. "I'll get it. You sort out that line." The harpoon's line had gotten tangled and Kylie had been set to the tedious but no-skill-required task of sorting it out. 

Tyler dug around under the seats and found the line, no problem. He needed an extra bolt, though, or at least something that could act as one. He found a likely-looking small paper bag and looked inside. "What the...?" He pulled out a blue bra and panties. "Not even going to ask," he told himself, stuffing them back in the bag. He cautiously opened another bag and found a handful of bolts, just about the size he needed. "Burt is certainly prepared for every possibility." 

When the harpoon was secured as best as they could make it, they were ready. "Aim it right here!" Burt shouted, indicating the cliff face directly below him. "Don't aim too low!" He stepped back, to the other side of the pillar, out of their sight. 

"Don't miss," Kylie told him. 

"You want to do this?" Tyler muttered, taking careful aim. 

"No, I just want you not to miss." She stood behind him, checking his aim. "And don't hit Burt." 

"I'll try to avoid that." 

Tyler fired, the bolt went flying. 

It didn't go too low. 

It went too high. 

"You missed!" Kylie cried, slapping his shoulder. "You hit Burt! Where is he?" 

"I didn't hit Burt!" He looked worried, though. "He'd've screamed or something." They exchanged a glance. "Right?" 

Burt appeared at the cliff face holding the harpoon. 

Kylie threw her arms around Tyler. "You didn't hit Burt!" 

"Try again!" Burt shouted, and Tyler reeled in the harpoon. 

"Don't miss this time," Kylie advised, patting Tyler's shoulder. 

"It's not like I've ever fired one of these before," Tyler muttered. 

Tyler aimed again, a little lower this time, and fired. 

It thunked home in the cliff, just a foot or so from the top. 

Kylie hugged Tyler again. 

Burt reappeared at the edge and shot Tyler a salute. He had his shirt off and had tied several knots in it. He knelt at the edge of the cliff and wrapped the shirt around it. 

"Oh goddess," Kylie said faintly, watching him. "He's _not_ going to do what I think he's going to do." She turned to Tyler. "Is he?" 

Tyler, also watching, nodded. "I think he is." 

"I can't watch." She put her hands over her eyes. Her feet were tingling again. 

"There he goes." 

Kylie parted her fingers and watched, horrified, as Burt held onto the shirt and swung himself over the side. He swung wildly a moment, but didn't lose his grip as she _knew_ he would. He slid down the harpoon line, gaining momentum as he went. "Oh goddess," she breathed. 

He got closer and closer. Then, just as his feet seemed to almost brush the ground, the harpoon came away from the cliff. He was almost close enough by then, but not quite. The line dipped, and Burt's feet touched down. He stumbled, then slammed into the side of the Power Wagon. 

Kylie and Tyler winced. 

He crumpled and fell, laying on his back, gasping for air. 

Kylie and Tyler leaped off the side of the truck and came to stand over him. 

"Are you hurt?" Tyler asked. 

Burt sucked air in, trying to answer. He shook his head. 

Kylie squatted down near him, his Hawks hat in hand. She used her other hand to gently brush his forehead, concern in her face evident. "Poor Burt," she said. 

With one last gasp, Burt got up up his elbow and took his hat from her, settling it on his head. 

"Hey Burt..." Tyler said, kneeling down next to him. He looked toward the younger man. "That looked like fun. Can I go next?" 

"No!" Kylie said. "I thought we said I could go next!" 

Burt looked from one to the other. 

"Hey Burt," Kylie said. "I bet we'll have matching Power Wagon bruises now! We'll have to compare later." 

~END~


End file.
